Discord (My Little Pony)
Discord is a recurring antagonist in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. He is known as the spirit of chaos. Appearance Discord is one of the species called a draconequus (as explained by Cheerilee from the beginning of the episode). Discord is a combination of many body parts from different creatures which also makes him a chimera. He has the head of a horse-like pony, with a deer antler on the right, a goat horn of the left, one long fang, different sized pupils, a snake tongue, a donkey mane, and a goat beard. The rest of his body consists of the right paw of a lion, the left talon of a eagle, the right leg of a dragon, the left hoof of a deer, the right wing of a bat, the left wing of a Pegasus, and a dragon-like snake tail with a white tail tuft. Role The Return of Harmony, Part 1: Introduction Discord was the main antagonist in his first appearance in The Return of Harmony: Part 1. Princess Celestia explains to Twilight and her friends that Discord was her predecessor as ruler of Equestria and caused chaos throughout for earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi alike. Nobody dared stand up to his outrageous rule until Luna and Celestia used the Elements of Harmony to turn him to stone, and took his throne from him. Celestia explains that since she and Luna are no longer in connection with the Elements of Harmony, the spell imprisoning Discord has failed and he has escaped from his stone prison and stealing the Elements of Harmony, implying to have hid them in the Canterlot castle labyrinth. With nothing to keep his powers in check, he begins to wreak chaos throughout Equestria, turning clouds into cotton candy that move of their own accord and rain chocolate milk, and causing animals to become wild and automatically change shape. When the Mane Six venture into the Palace Labyrinth, Discord magically stole the pegasi's wings and the unicorn's horns so that they would be unable to use their magic or ability to fly to "cheat" in the "game" he forces them to take part in to find the Elements, and separates them by raising sections of the Labyrinth's walls. Discord used representations of the cast's cutie marks, and (with the exception of Fluttershy and Twilight) subtly manipulates them into questioning the morality of their element, which drains them of their color and severs their connection to the element they represent, causing their personality to become their polar opposite. He eventually plays on Rainbow Dash's loyalty by showing her a vision that her hometown of Cloudsdale would be destroyed without her, and offers her wings back and a choice to either go to its aid, or continue seeking the Elements. This tricks her into flying out of the Labyrinth, breaking Discord's first rule that all of the ponies must participate, or he wins. Discord then causes the entire Labyrinth to collapse, and standing before the five remaining Ponies, gleefully states that Equestria will now be thrust into eternal chaos. ''The Return of Harmony, Part 2'': Defeat In "The Return of Harmony: Part 2", Equestria is thrown into eternal chaos, and Discord points out that he never said the Elements of Harmony were in the Labyrinth. It is not until she returns home that Twilight realizes the answer to Discord's riddle was that they were inside a book at her house. With the Elements, the ponies (minus Rainbow Dash, who is replaced by Spike) attempted to use them on Discord, but failed. Twilight was however able to restore them by using her magic to show them images of past adventures. She did this with Rainbow Dash last, after which they confronted Discord, who was still confident that they could not defeat him, and makes himself an open target. As the ponies' representation of the elements are restored, however, they use them on him in a similar style to Nightmare Moon, turning him to stone, this time with a look of horror frozen in his face. ''Keep Calm and Flutter On'': Beginnings of a redemption In "Keep Calm and Flutter On", Celestia brought the stone Discord before the Mane Six and told them she could make use of his magic if they could reform him. As a precaution, she gave them their Elements of Harmony, enchanting them so Discord couldn't use his power on them. Twilight released Discord from his stone prison. With a combination of Fluttershy's stare and the threat of being turned to stone again, Discord didn't do much chaos, but brainwashed some beavers behind the ponies' backs. Fluttershy (whom Celestia was most confident in) was the only one willing to give Discord a chance, and had him stay at her house. Discord didn't act evil, but was trying to trick Fluttershy into eventually removing her necklace. He also ate several pages from books including a reforming spell Twilight planned to use on him. While Discord was eating with the Six, attacking the other five for making comments about him, Fluttershy said she and Discord were friends, which affected Discord as he never had a real friend before. When the corrupted beavers flooded Sweet Apple Acres with their dams, Discord said he'd fix this in exchange for Fluttershy's promise not to use her Element of Harmony on him. Discord broke the deal and froze the water instead of removing it. Twilight wanted to turn Discord back to stone, but Fluttershy refused, having promised Discord not to. When Fluttershy walked away, however, Discord couldn't stand losing his only friend and restored everything to the way it was. Fluttershy showed Discord how important friendship was to him, and once he had it he didn't want to lose it. Discord also said, rather reluctantly, "Friendship is magic", the first time the line was ever spoken in the series. However, the episode ends on a bit of a wary note as while Discord openly says he'd never use his magic for evil, he quietly adds "Most of the time", hinting that he might relapse into his former evil self. Celestia also, rather practically, leaves the Elements of Harmony in Twilight's position, just in case. Discord overhears Celestia revealing her intention to Twilight and shows a face of concern, possibly because of the lack of trust they have in him or because it will make any future evil plan of his harder to pull off. Whether Discord will truly reform entirely with everyone else in the series or relapse into his old ways has yet to be seen. Discord was mentioned by Spike in the third season finale "Magical Mystery Cure". He was also shown in one of Fluttershy's flashbacks as well as in a flashback during Celestia's Ballad. ''Princess Twilight Sparkle:'' Accidental villain In the two-part fourth season premiere "Princess Twilight Sparkle", Discord appears when the Mane Six summon him, accusing him of the chaos in Ponyville. With Discord claiming innocence, the girls prepare to turn him back to stone. But Fluttershy stands up for Discord, saying that he is indeed reformed. Discord thanks his new friend 'Shutterfly" while embracing Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy corrects him on name and pony. Twilight asks for Discord to help her find out who's responsible for the chaos, but he refuses, telling them to ask Zecora instead. Later, Discord is still enjoying the mess in Ponyville and even enjoying the suffering of others, watching Cherry Berry and Comet Tail struggle from vines up until Twilight arrives and scolds him, telling him to help them, which he does. He asks Twilight what she's doing back already and Twilight tells Discord she left her friends behind because she needed to. Discord begun taunting Twilight, saying that he was shocked that she would leave her friends in danger. Discord's words get to Twilight and she leaves to save her friends. Discord waves as she leaves. Later on, after she gave up the Elements of Harmony to the Element tree saving Equestria, Discord congratulates them and asks how they did it. They say they gave up the Elements of Harmony, Discord sees this as a chance to relapse, but Fluttershy warns him of the consequences, meaning he'll lose his friends. Discord agrees to clean up the mess, but he won't do the Windows. Applejack wonders why all this happened to begin with, and Discord mentions out loud that the planted seeds that should have sprouted long ago. Twilight uses Zecora's potion to see that Discord really did his Plunderseeds that were supposed to steal the Element Tree's power and capture the princesses, but the tree's powers were too strong. Twilight scolds Discord again saying they could have used this information, but Discord explains it was to teach Twilight a valuable lesson about being a Princess. ''Three's A Crowd: Annoying trickster In "''Three's a Crowd", Discord visits Ponyville claiming to be suffering from "blue flu" and asking for help from his pony friends. With Fluttershy away on a trip to observe the Breezies, it ultimately falls to Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadance to care for him while he is ill. Ultimately, the blue flu turns out to be a deception. Discord claims that he was worried Twilight wasn't really his friend and concocted an intricate test to determine if she would really act like a friend to him. He is overjoyed to see that she chose to help him, even though it interfered with her time with Princess Cadance, who, although at first upset at being conned by the trickster out of her time with Twilight, tells the duo that the wild goose chase adventure was quite enjoyable to her as her duties at the Crystal Empire became predictable. Ironically, Discord is infected with a real disease when a Tatzlwurm sneezes on him. He is placed in a quarantine bubble in Fluttershy's cottage where his Pegasi friend can care for him. During his visit, Discord reveals that he and Fluttershy have been keeping a correspondence. ''Twilight's Kingdom:'' Betrayal, forgiveness, and final redemption In "Twilight's Kingdom", ''Celestia seeks the help of Discord to fight Lord Tirek. However, Tirek convinced Discord to betray his friendship with ponies in order to have freedom. Discord then helped him to consume magic from every pony of Equestria. Discord fell guilty when he allowed Tirek to absorb the power of his friends, but then Tirek betrayed Discord himself and absorbed his magic. Twilight exchanged her magic for all of her friends, including Discord who betrayed them. He then gave her a necklace which Tirek gave him as a symbol of their 'friendship'. The necklace turns out to be the final key that will unlock the chest which contained rainbow power. After Tirek is defeated, everyone, including Discord, gets their magic back. By now, Discord has officially joined Twilight's group of close friends. To prove this, Discord creates a bouquet out of thin air for Celestia. Personality As the incarnation of chaos and disharmony, Discord professes great inclination to these two subjects. Every movement he performs is related someway with this. Discord possesses a very problematic sense of humor, many times grazing the madness, which is strengthened by his powers of reality bending. He specifically enjoys dressing up with different outfits, (some of them referencing to human topics, what raises the opportunity of him traveling to other worlds, such as our very world). As a semi omnipotent deity, Discord considers himself above all the rest, diminish magnitude to every setback presented before him, including those which suppose a threat to him. It could be said that Discord suffers of an superiority complex, something that has lead him to find himself trapped in a rocky prison twice. However, after every defeat he learned from his mistakes. After his first escape he did not underestimate the Elements´ power and tried to get rid of them, however, his overconfidence implied his failure once more when after corrupting the mane six he thought they were not a menace anymore. After he was released under Princess Celestia's supervision, he tried to find a supernumerary way to counter the Elements power by manipulating Fluttershy for his own desires behind the trick of a false friendship, which eventually resulted counterproductive since he especially developed strong feelings for her. This leads to two prominent attributes in Discord's character. He is highly manipulative, showing no hesitation in lying, tricking, playing filthy and diverse mendacious methods in order to achieve his goals. He seems to have a rather sadistic side to him, such as when he was gleefully lying back and watching Cherry Berry and Comet Tail struggling to get untangled from the Plunderseeds, and due to the fact that he constantly laughs at other's dismays. In Keep Calm and Flutter On, he is seen wearing dead bunny slippers and chuckling at the ponies misfortunes at the dinner party. In fact, he is a supporter of physiologic torture, as he enjoyed Twilight´s despair once she found herself abandoned by her friends. However, if he can´t obtain the expected results with his charming skills he doesn´t doubt in using the force to brain wash his victims. However, there is still some good inside him. In the moment Fluttershy declared to consider him a friend Discord showed to be really affected by this statement, as he mentioned that he had never had friends before. Many fans consider this fact as the motivation that drove Discord the way he is. Until the moment Fluttershy had shown to see Discord as more than a monster but as a true "sweetheart" he hadn´t realized of how alone he was. If fact, he hated his loneliness that much that just for not being on his own again he renounced to domain the world as he had ever desired. However, since then, it seems he still remains his mostly mischievous self. In "''Twilight's Kingdom", it shows that Discord has begun to truly understand friendship with all of the ponies and fell guilty when he has allowed Tirek to drain their magic powers. He then asked Twilight for forgiveness and thanks her for saving him. At the end of the second episode, it shows that Discord made friends even from Celestia and Luna - his formal nemeses. Twilight even included him into her kingdom "court" as one of her closest, dearest, and most loyal friends. Fan depictions PONY.MOV A heavily modified version of Discord is also the main antagonist of Hotdiggedydemon's .MOV series. For more details on that incarnation, see Discord (Hotdiggedydemon.com). Others Fans have picked up on the Satanic elements present in Discord's character, notably him being an omnipotent, malevolent trickster and tempter who stands opposed to Order and Harmony itself. Many depictions of Discord thus cast him as the Ultimate Evil present in Equestria. In many fan works, he's been portrayed as a Complete Monster, in stark contrast to his portrayal on the show. Some other depictions cast him and Chaos as a necessary force that balances Order. Occasionally, fans may straight-up portray him as a good-natured fun-loving guy (this is often accompanied by depicting Princess Celestia as an oppressive tyrant). Powers and abilities As an embodiment of Chaos, Discord appears to be borderline omnipotent. He has manifested a great number of abilities and skills over the course of G4 MLP - abilities he has shown so far include: *Size-Shifting (Discord has varied in size from very large to being small enough to fit in a pony's ear) *Shape-Shifting (Discord has taken many odd forms, some of which defy physics or parody characters) *Probability Alteration (Discord can cause extremely unlikely events to occur within his vicinity, such as chocolate rain) *Telekinesis (Discord has shown enough telekinetic skill to lift the entire Mane Six up magically, such as when he angrily "grabbed" them by the collars) *Hypnosis (Discord has shown the ability to corrupt others and is skilled at hypnotic magic - he can even outright take control of someone's mind, though he prefers not to) *Telepathy/possible Omniscience (Discord was able to know all the strengths and weaknesses of the Mane Six as well as their names, without ever having met them before) *Fourth Wall Awareness (Discord appears to be aware he is in a cartoon, so far he is the only being in MLP that has this trait save for Pinkamena Diana Pie aka Pinkie Pie) *Teleportation (Discord is able to teleport from one place to another) *Object Creation (Discord can make objects appear out of thin air) *Life Creation (Discord can make animals and creatures appear out of thin air) *Levitation (Discord is able to float in the air) *Flight (Discord can fly using his wings) *Replication (Discord can create copies of himself) *Animation (Discord can bring any inanimate object to life) *Appendage Generation (Discord can grow extra body parts) *Anatomical Liberation (Discord can make parts of his body come apart, and is able to move them while detached so) *Color Alteration (Discord was able to make Twilight's friends pale-colored, then later colorless, and was able to change himself all blue to make it look like he has "blue flu") *Enhanced Strength (Discord is deceptively strong, enough so to take a tree out of the ground) *Enhanced Hearing (Discord was able to hear from far away, as shown with Applejack) *Physics Manipulation (Discord is able to manipulate the physics of the world) *Weather Manipulation (Discord is able manipulate the weather by making rain clouds go crazy, causing thunder storms or creating cotton candy chocolate rain clouds) *Daytime Manipulation (Discord is able to manipulate celestial objects at will to bring about daytime or nighttime) *Gravity Manipulation (Discord is able to make things float into the air, and making objects lighter or heavier) *Prehensile Tail (Discord can use his tail to hold things, and can make his tail tuft into a hand) *Cartoon Physics (Discord is able to use cartoon physics by stretching his limbs, moving very fast, and appearing out of unexpected places) *Magic Imbalance Detection (Discord has the natural ability to sense major disturbances in magic, such as magic being stolen, or transferred into others) *Immortality (Discord seems to be immortal, as he has stayed in his stone prison for thousands of years without dying. He is also persumably just as old, if not older, than Celestia and Luna) Weaknesses Discord's strengths are many, while his weaknesses are extremely few. Attacking him head-on is due to fail, as he can easily thwart any assault through his reality-warping power. However he is vulnerable to the Elements of Harmony, which have successfully turned him to stone twice. Using the Elements also dispells all of his chaotic magic, returning things to their rightful shapes and places. He has also been shown to be vulnerable to other entities of immense power, such as a sufficiently empowered Lord Tirek. Discord was not able to escape Tirek's telekinetic grasp, nor stop the villain from draining all of his chaotic magic. One important weakness of Discord is himself. He tends to be very overconfident and so assured of his own invincibility that he will not go all-out against enemies. In addition, his tendency to underestimate opponents means that he can be taken by surprise and defeated before having the chance to react. While intelligent, he is also not immune to being manipulated, and fell for Tirek's proposition to become allies, not suspecting that Tirek would betray him in the end. Also, prior to his redemption, he secretly wanted a friend, which allowed Fluttershy to sway him towards the side of good. Gallery 1399 Discord-my-little-pony-friendship-i(...).png 830px-Discord3.png|"It's quite lonely being imprisoned in stone but you wouldn't know that would you, because I don't turn ponies into stone!" 830px-Discord headless s02e01.png|"What's the matter, Pinkie Pie? I thought you appreciated a good laugh!" 830px-EVIL Discord S02E02.jpg|Discord with his radiant light. Discord.png|Hello everypony! DiscordBetter.png|"Everypony has to play, or the game's over...And I win." Discord butterfly E1S2 -W 0 0001.png|Hey Fluttershy, your friends believe you're helpless. What do you think of that, my dear? Discord the Puppetmaster.png|Hahaha, Applejack is so gullible. Discordsfate.png|Discord's fate. My little pony friendship is magic 2x01 the return of harmony part 1 17 discord gloats-1024x576.jpg|"Looks like we might be due for a big old storm of chaos!" Window 3.jpg|Stained-glass depiction of Discord's second defeat. Discord_mocks_Twilight's_-precious_princess-_S03E10.png|Discord in "Keep Calm And Flutter On". Discord_tearing_up_-well_played,_Fluttershy-_S03E10.png|Discord finally realized what friendship truly is about. Discord_bows_to_Princess_Celestia_S03E10.png|"Yes Princess, I'm ready to use my magic for good instead of evil." Fluttershy_smiles_at_Discord_S03E10.png|"See, he can be a real sweetheart once you get to know him." Discord.jpg Discord get angry.png Discord S02E02.png Discord Defeated.png|Discord turned to stone once more. Discord's_first_defeat_S04E02.png Three's a Crowd promo Twilight, Cadance, and Discord.jpg|Discord in a promotional image for the episode Three's a Crowd Discord_ID_S4E11.png Screenshot_2014-06-05-17-18-50.png|Discord in Twilight's Kingdom, returned to the evil side Discord ID S4E26.png Discord_S03E10.png|Discord Reformed. Trivia *He is voiced by John de Lancie, who played Q on Star Trek. Discord has a few similar traits from him, including the snapping of his fingers and teleporting in a bright light: however, Discord was originally more malicious than Q (who was more of an anti-villain): though since his return he seems to be more like Q in being a neutral trickster. *He is the second major villain on the show to have been presumably redeemed (the first being Nightmare Moon) and the first major villain to have been redeemed via non-magical means (without the use of the Elements of Harmony). *He is also the only being in the series so far who has been proven to be completely immune to Fluttershy's stare. Given that The Stare has in the past reduced a full-grown dragon into submission and overpowered the magical stone gaze of a Cockatrice, Discord shrugging it off like it was nothing is a testament to his incredible power. *Discord made a cameo appearance in the first ever fan-made My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode called Double Rainboom as a front cover of the book that Blossom was reading in the ending credits. *Discord is also the main villain of the upcoming first ever fan-made My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic movie called Journey of the Spark. *He is also mentioned in the first ever fan-made My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic ''mini movie called ''My Little Dashie. *Discord can be seen in the season 4 intro, in Fluttershy's house. *Discord is one of the most powerful characters in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the others are; Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon, King Sombra and Tirek. * Although Discord has been reformed, he still performs acts of questionable ethical integrity, for example, not saving ponies in danger by the Plunderseeds (and appearing to take joy in their suffering), manipulating Twilight to venture into the Everfree Forest, or not telling the Plunderseed´s origin until the problem was completely solved. He also considered the possibility of going back to his old ways in the moment he was notified of the disappearance of the Elements, only to be stopped by Fluttershy. It is perhaps on this that Spike tells Twilight that Discord is "reformed, but not that reformed". *It is implied Discord was much more evil in the past; one stained glass shows him dangling screaming ponies over fire. *He is the second major villain to have a song (the first being Queen Chrysalis). *Discord is often tied with Chrysalis as most popular villain of the series. However, his redemption caused him to lose popularity among some, although he may have gained more popularity when Season 4 episodes show his antics to be as entertaining as ever. *Aside from Nightmare Moon, who is a dark transformation of Luna (and considered by some to be a separate entity manifested from her jealousy), Discord is the only major antagonist to return in a later episode outside of a flashback. *Discord is the only major antagonist who is confirmed to be behind another major antagonist. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra, Sunset Shimmer, and Tirek were acting on their own motives but the Plunderseeds were created by Discord. *According to the Elements of Harmony book, Discord's redemption was done so new stories could be told with his character and to turn him from the known enemy into the "not-always reliable ally". *He is the third most recurring antagonist in the show, the other being Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon. *Discord is currently the only villain who successfully defeated the Mane 6, even if it was for a brief amount of time. *Discord is the first male major antagonist in the show (the others being King Sombra, and Tirek). *He also the first major antagonist who is not a pony. 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